Twitter users can book a room @Loews_Hotels

Nov. 21, 2013

Written by

The Tennessean

Travelers are now able to book a hotel stay at Loews Vanderbilt by simply sending a tweet to the hotel chain’s Twitter account.

The new initiative is part of the hotel chain’s juiced-up social media strategy, which took effect earlier this year.

By sending a tweet to @Loews_Hotels with the hashtag #bookloews, a traveler initiates a conversation with a booking agent in Loews’ downtown Nashville business office. On Tuesday, the company launched a promotion giving discounts to the first 140 people to book their rooms at one of Loews’ 16 hotels and resorts.

The Tennessean spoke with Loews Director of Social Media Piper Stevens.

What happens after someone sends a tweet to the Loews account with the hashtag #bookloews?

Anyone who sends a tweet with #bookloews is initiated into a conversation with one of our travel planners at the reservation center in Nashville. The process then kicks into the normal booking process requesting property. Once it gets into the personal information, a secure link is sent where people can transmit personal information such as credit card.

What were the early results of the promotion?

In the first few hours of the promotion, we had 20 people sign up, which we’re excited about (the promotion ended at midnight Wednesday). We’re really trying to change consumer behavior and bring people on Twitter as opposed to going on the website.

We see Twitter as a new distribution channel for us in the long run. We will continue to motivate and initiate conversations with consumers over Twitter, and they’ll be able to book with us.

What was the impetus?

Rather than forcing them to come to us either via phone or website, this is us bringing the booking mechanism to where the people are and giving them easy access to book a reservation through a social conversation.

Did you have to dedicate staff to this initiative?

Not knowing necessarily how many reservations would be taken via the social channel, we have about 12 folks at the Loews reservation center in Nashville to be able to handle this type of reservation. As we get a handle on how many reservations come in on a regular basis, we’ll evaluate what kinds of resources we put into it.

How has Loews used social media up to now?

2013 was really the inaugural year for Loews Hotels and Resorts to put forth a social media strategy. ... Most of our properties are tweeting every single day in response to consumer questions, but also proactively tweeting things that are happening in the local area. We want to be seen as the experts in our local areas for our 16 destinations.